1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to magnetic door stops and holders and, more particularly, it relates to magnetic door stops and holders which keep a door open by the magnetic attraction between a door knob and an adjacent mounting plate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When doors are opened, especially exterior doors with automatic closing mechanisms, the doors are generally closed soon thereafter. However, it is often necessary to keep doors, both interior and exterior, open depending on the situation. It is more practical to keep open the door of a passage where many people come and go and where deliveries are made so as to avoid frequently opening and closing the door each time a person passes through. By keeping such a door open, the door and the adjacent wall upon which the door opens can be protected from damage such as to the hinges of the door as there is applied no load thereon and to the adjacent wall by minimizing the times that the door knob could possibly contact the wall.
Furthermore, many doors are provided with door stops to maintain the door knob from contacting and damaging the adjacent wall. Typical door stops are a flexible coil type mounted near the floor on or adjacent the molding of the adjacent wall and on the door itself. Oftentimes, the flexible coil type and other types of door stops are either damaged or do not sustain the impact of quickly or forcefully opened doors. Once the door stop has been damaged, the adjacent wall of the door also becomes damaged by the force of the door knob of the door against the adjacent wall and must be fixed to maintain the aesthetic beauty and integrity of the adjacent wall.
The use of magnetic door holding devices to stop, catch, and hold doors in a fixed position is generally known in the art. The magnetic door holding devices generally work by (1) mounting a magnet to the door which engages a magnetically attractable strike plate on the adjacent wall or the floor approximate the adjacent wall or (2) mounting a magnetically attractable strike plate to the door which engages a magnet mounted on the adjacent wall or floor approximate the adjacent wall to secure the door in place. Unfortunately, many of these door holding devices are not constructed in such a manner that would inhibit damage to a door or adjacent wall when the door was slammed or otherwise opened quickly. Furthermore, the known door holding devices are not easily mounted to either the door or the adjacent wall and generally require that the integrity of the door and the wall be violated by mounting screws, bolts, or the like during mounting of the door holding device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,317, to Delaney describes a self-adjusting magnetic door stop and catch. The door stop and catch of the Delaney patent has a helically coiled spring mounted on a base board or wall through which a flexible cable extends to hold a swivel mounted magnet at the end of the spring. Attachment of the door stop and catch is accomplished by mounting screws secured into the door and the base board or adjacent wall. Besides increasing the complexity of attaching the door stop and catch, the end result is that driving screws into the door and the base board or adjacent wall destroys the integrity of the door such that removal of the door stop and catch of the Delaney patent from the door and the base board or adjacent wall leaves unsightly holes in the door and the base board or adjacent wall which must be filled or otherwise fixed.
It would be advantageous to provide a door holding device which would allow easy attachment of the door holding device without having to compromise the integrity of the door or adjacent wall by driving screws or other mounting devices into the door or adjacent wall. Furthermore, it would be advantageous to provide a door holding device that is mountable to an adjacent wall which will protect the integrity of the adjacent wall from damage when the door is quickly or forcibly opened. Additionally, it would be advantageous to provide a door holding device which is mountable to an adjacent wall which has already been damaged by the door knob which will protect the adjacent wall from further damage and cover the previously damaged portion of the adjacent wall.